The other morning , I took my sister, brother-in-law, and niece to Hollis Gardens in Lakeland. We were on our way to the trails at Circle B and spending some moments first in these paradise-like gardens seemed like a worthy curtain-raiser to the main event.
For years, this place has been my go-to-place for flower pics and it has never failed to deliver. It delivered again with some lovely flower images but as cameras have yet to be able to capture the wonderful smells of nature’s perfumery, you are left with my own recounting here. It was delicious in the extreme and each leaning in to a bloom brought the most amazing aromas that you can imagine.
I have attached some flower shots to the end of today’s thought. Hope you enjoy!
While we were there, my sister spotted the situation in this picture in a corner of the gardens and it stopped each of us in our tracks.
At first glance, your senses feel accosted and your eyes have difficulty understanding the whys or hows such a thing could happen.
In the middle of a soft and gentle piece of natural life, desecration appears not just to thrive but be organized.
That children/teens (I assume) feel that it is not just ok to do this, but somehow a symbol of their freedom to do so, is an outrageous thought. That they see nothing wrong with willfully damaging a natural organism for their own “fun” or glorification is a reflection of their own level of ignorance.
And that ignorance is what occupied my thoughts later in the day as I sorted through my images from earlier.
Some people read the word “ignorance” and equate it to stupidity. And while it is entirely possible that several of these miscreants are also stupid, that is not the point I am trying to make.
Ignorance is really about lack of knowledge and it is hard to smack people down when they really know no better.
So I look around them at the environment that allows such ignorance to prevail and I see the immediate culprits of their parents, their outer circle of an education system, and then the outer most influence of leaders and idols.
Their parents are clearly an example of a “failed state” in geopolitical terms and they have failed their children miserably in providing them with a basic sense of right and wrong and a respect for the planet we live on. That is an easy one to spot. Parents are the front-line of a system that is supposed to help create good citizens.
When that front-line fails to establish a good base, those in the outer bands of influence have an almost impossible job to repair these retarded minds. The saying that “it takes a village to raise a child” only works when parents hold the front line.
When parents abandon their role or shirk their responsibilities, their offspring resort to carving idiotic scratches into helpless plants and trees. They in-turn should carry scratches as a mark of shame so that we can all know who they are. Their right to procreate should even be revoked. They should recede to the shadows and live out their existence in shunned solitude.
The education system has failed to overturn these damaged brains and transform them into useful living creatures. Teachers may individually be champions of the earth, but when the system pointedly shapes brains into performers for industry rather than protectors of the planet, we end up with thousands of desecrators wandering the streets with penknives and markers looking to make their own pathetic mark.
And when leaders and idols are climate-change deniers and flat-earthers, what hope for the generations of idiots looking to sheepishly follow them into extinction? “We’re going to bring jobs back to the coal industry, abandon the Paris accord on climate change, and authorize oil drilling in the arctic” … campaign slogans that win elections, fashion policies, and allow for more tic tac-laden pussy-grabbing.
There is a swell of ignorance in this country that is driven by selfishness, hate, and intolerance. It distorts reality and overwhelms the arguments of good people.
And like it or not it filters down to the children and distorts their view of right and wrong. It allows them to replace truth and bravery with lies and bravado.
It allows them to be cruel to little creatures and carve their insignificance into living organisms. I just know in my heart of hearts that one day I will return to that spot and some idiot will have carved MAGA into the bamboo.
Wait ‘n see!
Beautiful and colorful.
Thank you Jim!